Just curious as to why fish and other sea creatures that live in salt water are not overly salty when ingested? I would think they would absorb most of the salt they live and breathe in.
Edit: added the word overly
In: Biology
Sodium is one of the main ions used in sending signals through the body. If they absorbed all the salt, they whould experience spontaneous generation of signals all over the place. This includes the heart and other organs. If your heart is doing its own thing and not beating in order, it is not pushing blood very effectively so cells are not receiving the needed nutrients in a timely fashion. Cardiac arrest is likely.
More importantly it fucks up their water balance. Water follows salt. If there is more salt in the fish’s blood, the water from their cells comes out and the animal dehydrates. Most marine animals either have reniculated kidneys or salt glands that are specifically suited for excessive ion environments. Sea birds have salt glands near their eye that empties brine out their beak, sharks have rectal glands that does that same thing but out with their feces. Marine animals spend a lot of energy of getting ions out of their body (freshwater spend a lot getting them in), and maintaining proper water balance
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